John Lennard

The Poetry Handbook is a lucid and entertaining guide to the poet's craft, and an invaluable introduction to practical criticism for students. Chapters on each element of poetry, from metre to gender, offer a wide-ranging general account, and end by looking at two or three poems from a small group (including works by Donne, Elizabeth Bishop, Geoffrey Hill, and Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott), to build up sustained analytical readings.Thorough and compact, with notes and quotations supplemented by detailed reference to the Norton Anthology of Poetry and a companion website with texts, links, and further discussion, The Poetry Handbook is indispensable for all school and undergraduate students of English. A final chapter addresses examinations of all kinds, and sample essays by undergraduates are posted on the website. Critical and scholarly terms are italicised and clearly explained, both in the text and in acomplete glossary; the volume also includes suggestions for further reading.The first edition, widely praised by teachers and students, showed how the pleasures of poetry are heightened by rigorous understanding and made that understanding readily available. This second edition -- revised, expanded, updated, and supported by a new companion website - confirm The Poetry Handbook as the best guide to poetry available in English.

The Poetry Handbook

The four books making up The Immortals are the 5th - 8th (of 15) novels set in Tortall, and introduce the' Wildmage', Veralidaine Sarrasri, who appears in most later novels in the Tortall series. The Notes in this book cover Tamora Pierce's life and work; the world of Tortall (including the geography, cast, and neighbouring cultures); the strange menagerie of immortal creatures who may be friend or foe; and the pantheon of interfering multicultural god/desse/s. The well-illustrated Annotations pay special attention to the many animals who feature, cultural and historical references, and the major thematic issues that develop throughout the quartet. Wild Magic, Wolf-Speaker, The Emperor Mage, and The Realms of the Gods are all covered on a chapter-by-chapter basis, and there is a link to the deleted chapter of The Emperor Mage (in which Daine heals a poisoned camel). The Essay compares The Immortals with its successor quartet, Protector of the Small, for both the brave teenage heroines have a particular and very educational relationship with Pierce's greatest fantasy-beasts, the amazing (and amazingly smelly) Stormwings. The Bibliography has a section detailing works about' Tamora Pierce and Children's Writing'.

2nd edition

Reading Tamora Pierce: 'The Immortals'

Mary Luckhurst

'Could be read with profit and pleasure by any theatregoer.' -Steven Poole, The Guardian'A good basic introduction for first year students to problems of reading plays as performance texts, i.e. reading theatrically.' -Professor R. A. Cave, Royal HollowayA compact, wide-ranging, and accessible guide to reading plays, The Drama Handbook stresses the importance of understanding performance conventions and production processes through history, and offers clearly defined and presented critical vocabularies.

A Guide to Reading Plays

The Drama Handbook

Of Modern Dragons

Ian McDonald is a major SF writer, whose River of Gods (2004) won the British Science Fiction Association award for Best Novel, and was shortlisted for the corresponding Hugo, Arthur C. Clarke, and British Fantasy Society awards. Chaga (published in the U.

Ian McDonald: Chaga / Evolution's Store

William Shakespeare, Hamlet

Tamora Pierce is a prolific and very unusual modern master of fantasy for young adults and the first such author to appear regularly on the New York Times bestseller lists. The four books making up The Immortals are the 5thâ€"8th (of 15) novels set in Torta.

Tamora Pierce: 'the Immortals'. Genre Fiction Sightlines

Of Modern Dragons; and other essays on Genre Fiction:

Further Essays on Genre Fiction

Of Sex and Faerie: Further Essays on Genre Fiction

Taking up where the author's book Of Modern Dragons (2007) left off, these essays continue Lennard's investigation of the praxis of serial reading and the best genre fiction of recent decades, including work by Bill James, Walter Mosley, Lois Mcmaster Bujold, and Ursula K. Le Guin. There are groundbreaking studies of contemporary paranormal romance, and of Hornblower's transition to space, while the final essay deals with the phenomenon and explosive growth of fanfiction, and with the increasingly empowered status of the reader in a digital world. There is an extensive bibliography of genre and critical work, with eight illustrations and many hyperlinks.

Faulkner is notoriously a 'difficult' writer to study, especially for first-time readers. This Literature Insight begins with three chapters clearly setting out the important facts of his life, mapping the people and history of his recurrent fictional setting, Yoknapatawpha County, and analysing the oddities and problems of his prose style. Later chapters turn directly to his great novel 'Go Down, Moses' and his later collection 'Big Woods', dealing in detail with each story and the intertexts and showing how they connect and add up to something much more than loose collections. Readers new to Faulkner will find it a very helpful introduction to his world, and those already familiar with him a valuable resource.

Reading William Faulkner: Go Down, Moses & Big Woods

Xenogenesis (retitled Lilith's Brood in 2000) is one of Butler's most important works, and comprises the novels Dawn (1987), Adulthood Rites (1988), and Imago (1989). The Notes cover Octavia Butler's life and work; the background and structure of the trilogy; (Black) SF in relation to race and gender; the tradition of dystopias; and the work in genetics that is central to the plot. The Annotations pay special attention to the feminist and racial critique of human behaviour, and to the scientific and religious themes that develop throughout the trilogy. Each of the three novels is dealt with book-by-book and chapter-by-chapter. An Essay, called' The Strange Determination of Octavia Butler', considers the trilogy's two very different umbrella-titles and Butler's unusual use of genetic science, especially the discovery of mitochondrial DNA, to critique racial essentialism. It also argues for her use of cellular organelles as an metaphor for the African Diaspora driven by slavery. The Bibliography provides a complete listing of works by Octavia Butler, including short stories and work published on-line. It also has sections detailing works about' Octavia Butler and SF' and' Useful Reference Works'.

Octavia Butler, Xenogenesis

A volume of essays exploring some of the best genre fiction of the last 40 years, including workk by Reginald Hill, Thomas Harris, Dorothy L. Sayers, Nora Roberts, J. D. Robb (since 2000 the world's best-selling novelist) , J. R. R. Tolkien, Ursula Le Guin, Anne McCaffrey, Ian McDonald, Octavia E. Butler, and The Tortallan World of Tamora Pierce.

Of Modern Dragons and other essays on Genre Fiction

Reading Reginald Hill: On Beulah Height

Fellow and Director of Studies in English John Lennard

Dr Johnson and whole hosts of grammarians disapproved of parentheses, but for countless poets they have been essential to their work. John Lennard provides a history of the poetic use of lunulae (the marks of parentheses) from their first appearance in England in 1494 to the present day, and shows how in each period the patterns of literary use have reflected technological, philosophical, and political developments.

The Exploitation of Parentheses in English Printed Verse

But I Digress

Tamora Pierce is a prolific and very unusual modern master of fantasy for young adults and the first such author to appear regularly on the New York Times bestseller lists. The four books making up The Protector of the Small are the 9th to 12th (of 15) novels set in Tortall, and follow the progress of Keladry of Mindelan from the first openly female page in more than a century to her attainment of Knighthood and introduction to war. The Notes cover Tamora Pierce's life and work; the world of Tortall (including the geography, cast, and neighbouring cultures); the strange menagerie of immortal creatures who may be friend or foe; the pantheon of interfering multicultural god/desse/s; knighthood; and the school series format that Pierce adapts. The well-illustrated Annotations cover unusual words, ideas, and objects mentioned, real-world cultural, historical, and literary references, and the major thematic issues that develop throughout the quartet. First Test, Page, Squire, and Lady Knight are all covered on a chapter-by-chapter basis. The Essay considers The Protector of the Small as a revisioning of Song of the Lioness, the structure of the quartet, and the nature of Blayce and the killing devices. A Note on Fanfiction surveys the enormous Tortall archive of fanfic as a resource for readers of the quartet, and a Bibliography provides checklists both of Pierce's works and of writing about her. Tamora Pierce read the book in manuscript and has generously allowed her comments to be published, including new extracanonical facts about Jump, women in combat, the death magic that powers the killing devices, and much more.

Reading Tamora Pierce: 'The Protector of the Small'

Professor Hattaway's study places Richard II within the contexts of Shakespeare's life and of the strenuous political debates that were taking place at the end of the reign of Elizabeth I. It offers a commentary upon the unfolding action of the play, stressing possible alternative readings of the text, and noting how directors have made particular decisions about these. It ends with two shorter linked chapters on aspects of the play's critical traditions and on selected stage productions.

Hamlet

William Shakespeare: Richard II

An illuminating study of Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel with special attention to its film versions. From its first publication in 1955 Nabokov's Lolita has been denounced as immoral filth, hailed as a moral masterpiece, and both praised and damne.

Vladimir Nabokov: 'Lolita'

An illuminating study of Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel with special attention to its film versions. From its first publication in 1955 Nabokov's Lolita has been denounced as immoral filth, hailed as a moral masterpiece, and both praised and damned for stylistic excess. In this fresh appraisal John Lennard provides convenient overviews of Nabokov's life and of the novel (including both Kubrick's and Lyne's film-adaptations), before considering Lolita as pornography, as lepidoptery, as film noir, and as parody.

'Lolita'

Vladimir Nabokov

Taking up where Of Modern Dragons (2007) left off, these essays continue Lennard's investigation of the praxis of serial reading and the best genre fi ction of recent decades, including work by Bill James, Walter Mosley, Lois Mcmaster Bujold, and Ursula K. Le Guin. There are groundbreaking studies of contemporary paranormal romance, and of Hornblower's transition to space, while the fi nal essay deals with the phenomenon and explosive growth of fanfi ction, and with the increasingly empowered status of the reader in a digital world. There is an extensive bibliography of genre and critical work, with eight illustrations.

John Lennard

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